Fish products

Today, fisheries are estimated to provide 16% of the world population's protein, and that figure is considerably elevated in some developing nations and in regions that depend heavily on the sea. The flesh of many fish are primarily valued as a source of food; there are many edible species of fish. Other marine life taken as food includes shellfish, crustaceans, sea cucumber, and jellyfish. Roe are also harvested.

Fish may also be collected live for research observation or for the aquarium trade.

Fish and other marine life may also be used for a variety of other uses. Pearls and mother-of-pearl are valued for their lustre. Traditional methods of pearl hunting are now virtually extinct. Sharkskin and rayskin which are covered with, in effect, tiny teeth (dermal denticles) were used for the purposes that sandpaper currently is. These skins are also used to make leather. Sharkskin leather is used in the manufacture of hilts of traditional Japanese swords. Sea horse, star fish, sea urchin and sea cucumber are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Tyrian purple is a pigment made from marine snails "Murex brandaris" and "Murex trunculus". Sepia is a pigment made from the inky secretions of cuttlefish. Fish glue is made by boiling the skin, bones and swim bladders of fish. Fish glue has long been valued for its use in all manner of products from illuminated manuscripts to the Mongolian war bow. Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swim bladders of fish (especially sturgeon), it is used for the clarification of wine and beer. Fish emulsion is a fertilizer emulsion that is produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal industrially.